Believe it or not————

About this eBook

Author

Ripley, Robert L. (Robert LeRoy), 1890-1949

Title

Believe it or not! [1929] : a modern book of wonders, miracles, freaks, monstrosities and almost-impossibilities

Original Publication

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1929.

Credits

Susan E., Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Language

English

LoC Class

AG: General Works: Dictionaries and other general reference books

Subject

Curiosities and wonders

Category

Text

Project Gutenberg

eBook-No. 78557

Release Date

April 26, 2026

Copyright

Public domain in the USA.

Contents

1. 1.BELIEVE IT OR NOT————
2. 2.PREFACE
3. 3.CONTENTS
4. 4.FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
5. 5.AN ODYSSEY OF ODDITIES — “ Seeing Is Believing ” — “ Strange Is Man When He Seeks After His Gods. ” — THE GHATS OF THE GANGES — THE BURNING GHAT — THE SUN GAZER — BURIED ALIVE — THE BED OF NAILS — THE EVER-STANDING MEN — HUMAN INCH-WORMS — A POUND OF FEATHERS WEIGHS MORE THAN A POUND OF GOLD — A GALLON OF VINEGAR WEIGHS MORE IN THE WINTER THAN IN THE SUMMER — THE BOY WHO DIED OF OLD AGE BEFORE HE WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD — THE LONGEST FIGHT — THE MAN WHO WAS “SEEN TO DEATH” — HENRY LEWIS PLAYING BILLIARDS WITH HIS NOSE MADE A RUN OF 46 — THE CLOCK OF HEAVEN — PUNISHMENT BY PROXY — MAKING WHOOPEE! — THE KING’S ENGLISH — BYE! BYE! BLACK SHEEP — WHAT’S IN A NAME — ALL THE NAMES OF GOD HAVE FOUR LETTERS — DAVID RICE ATCHISON WAS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ... and slept through his term of office. — THE RIVER OF VINEGAR — THE BOY WITH OWL EYES — THE BASE-STEALING RECORD — ONE HUNDRED YEARS—AND A DAY — THE FIRST HUNDRED CENTURIES ARE THE HARDEST — CONVICTED OF KILLING HIMSELF — THE STING OF DEATH — THE MAN WHO HANGED HIMSELF — LIFE IS LIKE THAT — “TO ERR IS HUMAN”— — CHRIST WAS NOT BORN IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA — AESOP DID NOT WRITE “AESOP’S FABLES” — NERO DID NOT FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNED — THE NEEDLE OF THE COMPASS DOES NOT POINT TO THE NORTH POLE — THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IS NOT A STRAIGHT LINE — NAPOLEON—LIKE MOSES—CROSSED THE RED SEA ON DRY LAND — SELLING THE WORLD — THE GOLDEN MAN — THE WALKING HALF-MOONS — True As An Hour-Glass — The Ransom of the Inca — COMMODUS FOUGHT AND WON 1031 BATTLES — “LINDBERGH ... Was the 67th Man to Make A Non-Stop Flight Over the Atlantic Ocean ” — PRESENT—BUT NOT VOTING — PAIN? You don’t know what pain is! — MORIMOTO ... Famous Japanese ... Can Swallow His Nose — THE MURDER AT MIDNIGHT — THE HORNED KAFFIR — THE SQUARE PALINDROME — DAMNED CLEVER, THESE CHINESE — METHUSELAH ... Oldest Man in the Bible Died Before His Father — COGHLAN’S COFFIN — Ripley’s Drawing of C. F. Coghlan’s Casket as Carried from Galveston Flood to Prince Edward Island Stirs Actor’s Daughter to Search By Charles Burney Ward — Consults Cartoonist — London Is Queried — Other Reports Traced — Gulf Stream Goes Northward — Might Have Carried Off Coffin — THE HUMAN PIN CUSHION — THE LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE — SILENT FOR 30 YEARS. — “3,675 FEET AND 9 INCHES” — THE SUN THAT RISES IN THE PACIFIC AND SETS IN THE ATLANTIC — Only Pirates Now Are At Home — What God Hath Joined Together — BOOTLEGGING HUMAN HEADS — “ Be Fruitful, and Multiply, and Replenish the Earth ” Gen. 1, 28. — MULAI ISMAIL THE FATHER OF 888 CHILDREN — THE NINE-YEAR-OLD MOTHER — THE EIGHT-YEAR-OLD MOTHER — THE NINETY-YEAR-OLD MOTHER — THE GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER! — THE OLDEST PARENTS IN THE WORLD — THE GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER! — THREE CHILDREN IN THREE CENTURIES — THE MOTHER OF 69 CHILDREN — BUSINESS FOR THE PIED PIPER — THE PROGRESSIVE MOTHER — YOU CAN’T BEAT THE DUTCH — THE LARGEST NUMBER OF CHILDREN A WOMAN EVER HAD — AN INDIAN JUGGLER’S REMARKABLE FEAT — “WORDS, WORDS, WORDS” Hamlet, Act II, Sc. 2 — THE 1792 FAMILY — EPIGRAM UPON NOTHING — CAN YOU PUNCTUATE THIS SENTENCE? — “THAT” WORD USED 7 TIMES IN SUCCESSION — IT’S THE KATZ — THE LONGEST WORD IN THE WORLD CONTAINS 184 LETTERS — THERE ARE 58,366,440 DIFFERENT WAYS OF SPELLING THE WORD “SCISSORS”—(PHONETICALLY) — THE AUTHOR WHO NEVER READ A BOOK — AN AMERICAN PALINDROME — ANTIPERICATAMETAPARHENGEDAMPHICRIBRATIONES — THE MENTAL MARVEL — HOT LIPS — PILLAR SAINTS — TWO SCANDINAVIANS ROWED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN — WEDDED FOR 147 YEARS — THE LAND OF THE HUMMING BIRDS — JIM CORBETT FOUGHT IN THE PRIZE RING FOR 18 YEARS ... and never had a black eye or a bloody nose. — THE FISH THAT CLIMBS TREES — RED RAIN — RAIN OF BLOOD — THE BARKING BIRD — THE SHARK DESTROYER — MAN-EATING CLAMS — PRANKS OF NATURE — THE CHILD CYCLOPS — THE TRANSPARENT MAN — THE CRAB-TOED TRIBE — YOGI HARIDAS — THE FORK-TONGUED FRÄULEIN — THE GLASS SNAKE — THE LEFT-HANDED FAMILY — THE MAN FAMILY — THE HALF WOMAN — THE DOUBLE-EYED MAN — THE MAN WITHOUT EARS — THE FAMILY PHYSICIANS — LION-HEARTED — THE DUSTY OCEAN — RAINING FISHES AND FROGS — THE RED SEA — MANNA FROM HEAVEN — WHISTLING TREES — SHIRTS GROWING ON TREES — OYSTERS GROWING ON TREES — THE COW TREE — THE WINGLESS BIRD — THERE ARE MORE THAN 4,000 DIFFERENT WAYS OF SPELLING THE NAME SHAKESPEARE — NATURE’S MARKSMAN — GOLF BIRDIES — BURNING ANGER — FIGURES DON’T LIE — CAN YOU WRITE THE ANSWER? — MAGIC SEVEN — CAN YOU CHANGE FIVE DOLLARS? — 142857 — PALINDROMATIC FIGURES — THE 100 SYMBOLS — THE PERSISTENT NUMBER — THE LARGEST PRIME KNOWN — MAGIC SQUARES — 15 — 34 — “PI” — ONE PROBLEM NEVER PROVED — KASPAR HAUSER COULD SEE THE STARS IN THE DAY TIME — BABE RUTH HIT 125 HOME RUNS IN ONE HOUR — THE HANDY LETTER WRITER — THE BOOK WORM — A BEAVER’S DAM — “THE PLACE OF DRUNKENNESS” — THE IDEAL LANDLORD — A WEEK WITH TWO THURSDAYS — ENDURING FAME — THE BOBBING ISLAND — THE FIG-TREE TOMB — SIDIS—THE PRODIGY — THE ILLITERATE CALCULATOR — THE GIRAFFE GIRL — GOD’S HEAVEN — THE VOCAL MEMNON The Statue That Speaks — THE KING WHO WAS CROWNED BEFORE HE WAS BORN — THE 153-YEAR-OLD BRIDEGROOM — THE EYELESS INFANT — THE LYRE BIRD — SINGING SANDS — OYSTERS THAT CATCH MICE — A Billion Dollars in London is Worth a Thousand Times As Much As a Billion Dollars in New York — A SPIDER IS NOT AN INSECT — ST. PATRICK WAS NOT AN IRISHMAN — BUFFALO BILL NEVER SHOT A BUFFALO IN HIS LIFE — SEX APPEAL — “THE QUEEN OF SPAIN HAS NO LEGS” — A PHILADELPHIAN COMMITTED SUICIDE AND LEFT THE FOLLOWING NOTE: — RICHEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED — THE CRAWLING FISH — THE HARD RIDING SQUIRE — THE TRACER BULLET — GERMAN INSECT POWER. — A REMARKABLE RUNNER — CATCHING THE SAME FISH TWICE — “ONE LONG HOP” — A QUEEN CROWNED AFTER DEATH — THE KAISERPOKAL — A COUGH IN THE CAR LOAD — HOT DOG — FLAMING YOUTH — “O P Q R S T” — GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS NOT THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES — THE HEN THAT BECAME A ROOSTER — THE MAN OF CHAINS — A FLEET CAPTURED BY CAVALRY — “IF YOU WOULD SEE HIS MONUMENT, LOOK AROUND” — MOTHER GOOSE — THE GHOST SHIP — WHAT PRICE PRIVACY — T I P — HE WHO LAUGHED LAST — A YEAR AND A DAY — THE SHORTEST POEM IN THE WORLD — EVEN UP — IT’S NOT THE HEAT—IT’S THE HUMIDITY! — THE MORNING AFTER — THE JAKUCK WEATHER REPORT — THE FOUNTAIN OF BLOOD — A COMMA THAT SAVED A HUMAN LIFE — THE MENTAL FREAK — THE WILL OF AKBAR THE GREAT — EASY COME EASY GO — THE CRUISE OF THE SKELETONS — THE MAN WHO DRANK HIMSELF TO DEATH — A GOOD LISTENER — THE PENITENT EYE — THE LAST NOD OF HOMER — FARE ENOUGH — WHAT IS SO RARE AS THIS DAY IN JUNE? — THE LOUDEST NOISE EVER HEARD — THE EARTH MOVES IN THREE DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME — “THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE” WAS NOT HOLY, OR ROMAN, OR AN EMPIRE — PA’S A SAP — THE BLESSED ISLES — THE BOOZING BISHOP — THE ONE-ARMED PAPER HANGER — THE RIVER THAT RUNS BACKWARDS — A SQUARE EGG — THE WORLD’S WORST THUG — HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS! — SOLVING THE SERVANT PROBLEM — THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN NOSE — AN EMPRESS’S AGILE EARS — FRIDAY UNLUCKY? — FIRE WATER — THE CHEESE CHAMPION — WHOOPEE — A RECORD TO BE SNEEZED AT — THE FIJI FIRE-WALKERS — THE $4,412,000-A-YEAR-MAN — THE $2,000,000 COMMA — MAMMY! — THE LAST WILL OF RABELAIS — Transcriber’s Notes

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